After
by Nightengale
Summary: When Ianto opened his eyes, the feeling of Jack's arms around him fading away, he saw what looked like the roof of the hub. He blinked because that could not be right. --SPOILERS FOR CHILDREN OF EARTH--


When Ianto opened his eyes, the feeling of Jack's arms around him fading away, he saw what looked like the roof of the hub. He blinked because that could not be right. The hub was gone now, a crater in the ground. But there he was, standing in the hub.

"New arrival!" he heard an unfamiliar voice shout.

"Oh no, Ianto," Ianto heard from behind him and he froze in shock.

Turning around slowly, Ianto saw Tosh and Owen standing in front of him.

"Oh my god," he gasped, feeling as though his knees would give way.

"He told us you were coming," Tosh said, a hand to her mouth. "I was hoping he was wrong."

"How you doing, tea boy?" Owen said with a smirk but Ianto could see it was only half genuine.

"I'm dead, aren't I," Ianto said.

It wasn't a question. Tosh just nodded sadly and enveloped him in a hug. Owen gave him a tight lipped smiled and raised his eyebrows in a 'what can you do?' sort of way. Tosh let go of him and stepped back. For a moment they just looked at each other. He was dead and so was she, yet here they were.

"So," Tosh said finally, "I suppose we should show you around."

"I suspect so," Ianto replied then added, "we're in the hub?"

"Yeah," Owen said with a wave of his hand, "welcome to the Torchwood Afterlife."

Ianto snorted. "You've got to be kidding me."

"'Fraid not," Owen replied and smirked.

Tosh took his hand and the three of them walked up the stairs to where their old workstations were. It was then that Ianto noticed they weren't the only people there. All around he could see others in various decade's dress. A woman with a short mini-skirt was sitting on the edge of Jack's desk laughing with a man in military uniform, looked like around WWI. Up above them on the catwalk he saw two men in old brown suits talking, their faces close together. He knew beyond them there were others, others he couldn't see right then but they were all there. Tosh didn't have to tell him, he knew. Every member of Torchwood who had died in the line of duty was there.

"You know?" Tosh interrupted his thoughts.

It wasn't a question either; she could tell without him saying it.

"Weird, isn't it?" Owen said, siting down in his chair.

"Why are we here?" Ianto asked.

"Tosh reckons it's like purgatory."

"Well," Tosh interrupted, "I didn't exactly say that but its certainly not permanent. We've seen people disappear. We're not here forever."

"Don't know where we're going to go after though," Owen said, twirling his chair around once and wiggling his fingers in a 'spooky' manner.

"How long have you been here?" Ianto asked.

Tosh and Owen looked at each other with dubious expressions. Ianto glanced back and forth between the two of them. They both looked like they were thinking very hard. Ianto realized that they were trying to remember what the word meant.

"It's not the same here as in life," Tosh said. "Time... it doesn't exist. I mean, well, it does but it doesn't."

Tosh walked away from Ianto and sat slowly down on the couch, propping her elbows on her knees. Ianto walked over and sat down beside her.

"Sometimes," Tosh began, "I forget that I haven't always been here. It's as though memory waxes and wanes. I sometimes half wake up and realize I don't know how long I've been standing where I am. It could have been ten minutes or days. But it doesn't matter really, because there is no time."

"Try not to think about it," Owen said, "it just makes you want to go bonkers!"

Ianto glanced at Owen and had to smile.

"It's good to see you two," he admitted.

Owen smirked. "Couldn't hack it without us?"

Ianto laughed and suddenly felt better. Then something flashed in his head and he looked at Tosh beside him.

"You said 'he said' I was coming. Who's he?"

Tosh and Owen looked at each other quickly then back to Ianto.

"Jack," they said together.

His mouth went dry.

"Jack comes here when he dies sometimes," Tosh said. "Every now and then he appears, sometimes for just a moment, sometimes for what feels like forever. He's often the only way that we can tell that time passes."

"He was here earlier," Owen said, standing up and joining them on the couch. "Just for a bit, said you would be following."

Tosh sighed. "I was hoping he was wrong, that maybe you'd be okay in life and.... Oh, I don't know." She looked at his face. "It's too soon for you too."

"He's never said...." Ianto started.

"He doesn't remember when he wakes up," Tosh replied. "He remembers when he gets here but never when he comes back to life."

"Oh my god..." Ianto put his head in his hands.

"Look who's here."

Ianto looked up at the new voice and saw one Suzie Costello looking down at him. She was grinning, arms crossed over her chest.

"Well, I sort of figured you'd turn up sooner rather than later."

Owen barked a laugh and Ianto frowned.

"Oh, stop it, Suzie," Tosh said, standing. "He's just died. He needs time to adjust."

"Bollocks," Suzie said, waving a shushing hand at Tosh. "Welcome to the afterlife, Ianto. It's bloody dull sometimes what with time fucking with your head but we have some mean poker games and a dart board from the 50s!"

"Oh?"

Owen sat up, clapping a hand on Ianto's shoulder. "Oh, you won't believe it."

"The hub here is different," Tosh supplied. "It's like a mash of Torchwood from all different eras. The morgue looks like its from 50 years from now today and Jack's office likes to switch back to 1900 all the time. It can be rather interesting to see what is going to look like what when."

"The hub just wants to keep us occupied before kicking us out," Suzie said, smirking.

"None of this makes sense," Ianto said, rubbing his hands over his face.

"You're dead!" Suzie replied with a laugh. "Did you really think it would?"

Extending her hand to Ianto, Suzie pulled him off the couch and four of them began a tour of the hub. It really was just the same and totally different than it had ever been. Ianto found his coffee maker right where he'd left it as well as about ten filing cabinets straight out of 1930. There was a television from the 70s in which had been an unused corner in his time then that hand of the Doctor's Jack had always kept in a jar. He met various past Torchwood members: Clara from 1973 who had been mauled by a weevil, Ted from 1932 who'd been killed by a crossbow, Tina from 1951 who'd met her end by Betall poison, Michael from 1999 who'd been shot by his boss Alex, Sasha from 1965 who'd drowned in the bay; people from so many times, all Torchwood. Now he was one of them, Ianto Jones from 2009, dead from the virus of the 456.

"It's not so bad," Suzie said as they came back upstairs from the cells. "Beautiful things happen here too."

"We think the alien technology of the hub is connected here," Tosh said, her inquisitive tone of voice creeping in. "It's as though its protecting us even after we die."

"Once there was music," Suzie said, a wistful smile on her face, "beautiful ball room music from the 20s and we all danced, every one of us. The dancing dead."

"See the dead man dance," Owen said to Tosh, nudging her affectionately with his shoulder.

"Jack came once for a long time and we had a party," Tosh said. "Streamers and cake and so much beer. I don't know where it came from but it was a blast."

"A death party?" Ianto quipped.

They other three laughed and smiled at him.

"See, you're getting the hang of it!" Owen remarked.

"It's weird to see the hub though," Ianto said.

"What do you mean?" Tosh asked.

Ianto laughed and felt himself blush. He suddenly felt like a naughty kid having to confess to breaking the lamp in the living room.

"Um, well, we blew up the hub."

"What!?" the other three shouted.

Ianto stifled a laugh. Suddenly it felt so funny.

"You blew up the hub?" Tosh said.

"What did you do?" Owen asked, hand on hips, "leave your coffee pot on too long?"

"Actually, there was a bomb planted in Jack's stomach."

Owen, Tosh, and Suzie all made the same face, grimaces with a hiss through their teeth. It made Ianto want to laugh even more.

"Ouch," Owen said.

Ianto just nodded.

"Well," Suzie said, "had to happen sometime."

With that they were all laughing again and Ianto could not stop. He felt almost as though he were still alive, laughing like it was life. All the horrible things that had happened in the past few days were like a distant memory and everything was just amusing, like it had barely been real.

"It's Jack!" someone suddenly shouted, breaking the spell like a gun shot.

Ianto looked up sharply at the three standing in front of him. He saw Owen put up a quick hand in a wave to someone behind him. Turning slowly around, Ianto saw Jack standing there, blinking in the light. He waved a hand back at Owen but his eyes were on Ianto.

"Hi," Ianto said, the humor of before fading away.

He could feel Owen, Tosh, and Suzie behind him moving away, giving them some privacy. The two of them stood for a moment just staring at each other then Jack rushed forward and pulled Ianto into his arms.

"I'm so sorry," Jack said and Ianto could hear the tears choking his voice. "I'm sorry. It's my fault. It's all my fault."

"No, its not," Ianto said holding him gently. "It's not your fault."

"It is, it is," Jack was speaking in a rush. "Its all my fault, every one of you. You shouldn't be here. You should be with me. You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be like... you should be alive."

He gasped out the last part gripping Ianto tightly, as though he could drag the other back to life with him when it came. Ianto rested his face against Jack's shoulder, his hands making soothing gestures against the back of Jack's coat.

"It's all right, Jack," Ianto said, pulling slightly away so they could look at each other. "You knew I would die some day."

There were tears on Jack's face and he shook his head sharply. "Not like that, not so soon."

Ianto smiled slightly and tilted his head. "No, I wouldn't have really wanted to die just then either."

Jack laughed in a dark way, fingers digging a little into Ianto's sides. Ianto put a hand up to Jack's cheek, brushing against his hair.

"You can't change it now, Jack. I'm sorry. I wish I was still with you but I'm not."

Jack breathed in shakily and kissed Ianto on the mouth. Ianto kissed him back and felt at peace, like he was really saying goodbye.

"I know you'll remember me," Ianto said against Jack's lips. "And you'll see me again."

"I won't remember," Jack said, looking into Ianto's eyes. "When I wake up, I won't remember."

"But you'll be back here," Ianto said. "We know your penchant for dying."

Jack laughed, a tear escaping from his eye again. He nodded and shrugged briefly. "Bad habit, can't seem to shake it."

Ianto laughed quietly. "Please don't give up when you're alive," Ianto said. "Can you remember that? Please?"

Lips forming a tight line, Jack nodded though his eyes looked unsure. Then he shook slightly and Ianto knew he was leaving, knew Jack would be ripped back into life out of his arms again.

"I love you," Ianto gasped wishing for one moment that this wasn't how it was.

"I love you too," Jack said. "I do. I'm sorry."

Then Ianto's arms were empty and all he saw in front of him was air. He closed his eyes once then opened them again. He had no idea how long he'd been standing there, arms still raised. He felt a hand on his shoulder and Ianto turned around.

"Hey," Owen said. "Come on, how about a game of poker?"

Ianto laughed. "Is this really my afterlife? Stuck in the hub?"

"Work never ends, eh?" Owen replied, turning Ianto around.

"Come on, Ianto," Tosh said from the top of the stairs, "I've gotten much better."

Ianto smiled, glancing at Owen then up at Tosh. "All right, let's play."

Walking up the stairs, Ianto joined his dead friends, the warmth of Jack still on his lips. All around him the hub was like a cloud, real but not real, and time went away into something never been at all.


End file.
